Ghost towns of America

Bodie, Calif.

The American landscape is dotted with the remnants of ghost towns - abandoned communities, settlements, or mining camps, like Bodie, Calif. (left), that went from boom to bust, their populations dissipating, until all that is left are ruins.

And even ruins are not permanent. There were once 1,600 ghost towns in Colorado alone, but no more. "Back to prairie, back to the ground," said Kenneth Jessen, who has studied American ghost towns.

Credit: Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress

Bodie, Calif.

In its heyday, from about 1877-1880, the town of Bodie, Calif., built on a gold mine, boasted 2,000 buildings, including 70 saloons
-- and not a single church.

Credit: Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress

Bodie, Calif.

There was high energy in the town, as everything - from food to wood to mining equipment to animal feed - had to be brought in to supply Bodie's business, including approximately 200 restaurants.

But at least they had their own breweries - three, in fact.

Credit: CBS News

Bodie, Calif.

And then as fast as Bodie grew, when the gold played out, Bodie
died.

Unlike so many Wild West towns that have disappeared
throughout the years, Bodie is now a National Historic Landmark, and the Bodie Foundation works to preserve the site as it was, so that visitors may have a window on history.

Other ghost towns have been turned into state parks, or as "living history" tourist attractions.

Credit: Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress

Bodie, Calif.

Terri Geissinger, an historian and guide for the Bodie
Foundation, told CBS News' Barry Petersen that in the 1870s, Bodie liked to
boast that "it had the widest streets, the wickedest men, the worst
climate, but the best beer."

Credit: Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress

Bodie, Calif.

"There were four
roads developed to bring supplies into Bodie," said Geissinger. "Most
people came in actually on the Bodie Bridgeport toll road. All roads were toll. They paid to come, and they paid to
leave!"

Credit: Carol Highsmith/Library of Congress

Bodie, Calif.

Geissinger said the town is preserved in "arrested
decay."

"Everything is
original from Bodie. We don't rebuild
anything that wasn't standing in 1962."

Credit: CBS News

Bodie, Calif.

An interior view at Bodie, Calif.

Credit: CBS News

Bodie, Calif.

Signs of domesticity in Bodie, Calif.

Credit: CBS News

Bodie, Calif.

A coffin rests unoccupied in Bodie, Calif.

Credit: CBS News

Courtland, Ariz.

In 1909 Courtland, Ariz., was a booming town built on copper ore.

Today just about the only structure still standing are the remains of a jail, which some miners preferred to sleeping in their tents.

Hagan, N.M.

Hagan, N.M., grew with the development of a coal mine in the early 20th century. The mine went bust, the railroad into town stopped running, and the residents moved out. The land is now owned by a private ranch; organized tours are advertised.

Santa Claus, Ariz.

An homage to a dream: In the 1930s Santa Claus, Ariz., was envisioned as a tourist destination in the middle of the desert. But by the 1970s business died out, and by the mid-'90s the town was effectively shuttered.

Stiles, Texas

Stiles, Texas, was the county seat of Reagan County, but nonetheless a railroad bypassed the town, which precipitated its decline. The ruins of the Reagan County Courthouse, built in 1911, are still visible off Highway 137.

Victor, Colo.

At the turn of the century Victor, Colo. (left, in 1900), had about 18,000 residents. Its population in the last census was less than 400, thanks in part to resumed mining activity. But trails through the area show much that once was (right).

Ardmore, S.D.

In addition to failing mines, the Dust Bowl and Great Depression also spelled the death knell for towns in the Midwest. Even those that barely hung on, such as Ardmore, S.D. (left, pictured in 1936), had difficulty surviving a changing agricultural world. By the 21st century it was deserted.

Credit: Library of Congress

Tahawus, N.Y.

The Adirondack town of Tahawus in New York State was centered around an iron smelting facility which has since been demolished. The village's 9,646-acre tract was recently purchased by the Open Space Institute. Much of the land is now part of the Adirondack Forest Preserve.

Ashcroft, Colo.

In the 1950s the remains of the mining town of Ashcroft, Colo. (about 10 miles south of Aspen) were used as a shooting location for the TV series "Sgt. Preston of the Yukon," with false fronts erected to evoke a Canadian town. Today the town is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Derry Ranch, Colo.

In the Colorado Rockies, thousands rushed in to form the Derry
Ranch placer mining settlement - and left almost as fast.

"Like that -- with food on the table, that's right,"
said Kenneth Jessen.

Credit: CBS News

Rhyolite, Nev.

Rhyolite, Nev., had a very brief life. Founded in 1904 after gold was discovered nearby, the population rose and fell from a peak of 5,000 to zero by 1920. It was a shooting location for films in the 1920s.